We like to think things are pretty fair here in Aotearoa, and that guys and girls have the same chances of doing things. We’re kinda proud of that.

If a guy is lining up against a girl for a job or to get accepted into a study course, we generally believe that the best candidate should ideally get the job or the spot. OK, we also know that doesn’t quite always happen, but we mostly accept it should.

It sure ain’t the same in Japan

Spare a thought then for your school leaving peers in Japan, particularly those of the female persuasion wanting to become doctors.

The Tokyo Medical University has been busted for regularly taking marks off female applicants to medical school so they can restrict the number of female doctors to around 30%. They have done this for at least 8 years. Enlightened huh?

Seems they are worried that females will get married, have children and so become unreliable and less dependable. Mmmm. Wonder what Jacinda would say about that?

Under 3% of girls applying for medicine made it

In the latest year 1019 girls applied for medicine at Tokyo Medical University and 30 were accepted, less than 3% of those applying. The rate was three times higher for guys and 141 made it through.

Contrast this to NZ where 6 in 10 medical students at Otago are female, and the same breakdown is seen at Auckland too.

Japan has a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas. The majority of the country’s almost 300,000 doctors prefer to work in cities, many chasing the higher paying specialities. Still, seems girls are not a big part of their solution.

Not the medical school’s only crime

Tokyo Medical University seems able to be nifty with guy scores too. Right now they are being investigated for boosting the entrance score of an Education Ministry official’s son to get him into med school. Spookily, the university was then given a significant funding grant by the same official.

Gender equality is a big thing here in NZ. We accept that women often sit behind men on pay scales, but that’s changing and changing fast. Check these attitudes out.

We don’t have gender-based quotas for school leavers in Aotearoa, selecting on merit and ability having long ago replaced chromosomes as determinants of your success.